Danced All Night
by Crave Kashmir
Summary: Sarah learns from her adventures in the Labyrinth, but things don't work out as she had hoped. Short Story. 1/1. Originally posted on Labyrinth Fanfiction List in April 2002.


And the Band Played On

Her whole body shook from sobs; it had gotten to the point where her muscles continued the action even when the crying had subsided. She wasn't even trying to disguise her pitiable moans anymore. Not that it mattered--there was no one there to hear her. She had never been so thankful for her parents' weekend trips to the city. She had lied to them. Told them she was going so they would take Toby with them, but really she had just wanted to be completely alone in her self-loathing.

What's wrong with me? Sarah questioned her warped reflection in the television. She had put away her toys, her costumes. She put the fairy tale books into Toby's room. All she ever read anymore was school assignments and the same fashion magazines as the other girls. She went to the mall. She went to the movies. Still they laughed at her. It seemed to have gotten worse once all the "childish nonsense" was gone. She was like them now, but they just wouldn't see it.

Why?!

They were all at prom now. She was home. Alone. As usual. Karen had become so concerned with her at one point that Sarah pretended to meet friends at the mall or the movies. But really, there was no one. She had no friends. She never had many to begin with, but with no fantasy world to live in she suddenly felt the emptiness she should have been feeling all along. Eventually Sarah got bored with the façade; she would go where she told Karen she was going, but when everyone saw her there alone it just provided more fuel to their censure. So Sarah stopped going. She stayed in her boring room studying. She studied her way to being the first in her class.

Thinking over all this, Sarah began to sob again. When she had been the Fairy Princess, she had planned how her prom would be. The dress was designed down to the smallest imaginable detail, the hair, the shoes, even Prince Charming (preferably the one from Sleeping Beauty because he could sing!). Everything had been arranged in her mind. Little good it did her now, though. The freak of Elstree High would not be swept off her feet this night, nor any other so long as those who still tried to push her into that little pigeonhole she once filled surrounded her.

Why?!

Even with the promise her parents offered her--that college would make everything better--she couldn't help feeling sorry for herself. College was an eternity away. And the mocking and mangling teenagers were there now, today and the next day and every day thereafter until the beginning of Fall semester.

Sarah began crying again. She made a wish to herself. She wished that her fairy tale would come true. She wished that she could show all those tormenters at her school; show them how special she knew she was. And she cried even harder because she knew no one would be answering her wishes. Fairy tales didn't exist.

Someone knocked loudly on the front door. Sarah considered answering it, but knew she was not fit to be seen. The knock came again, louder. Again she let it go. They would figure it out. Once again the knock came, louder still. Sarah began to wonder how it was possible for a person to knock so loudly without breaking either their hand or the door. In any event, the person outside didn't seem to take the hint that she wasn't home. As the fourth knock crashed in her ears, she rose and opened the door.

"Are you….Sarah Williams?" the man in the bright blue coveralls asked, reading her name off a clipboard.

"Yes," Sarah replied slowly, wary of any trickery 'they' might play on her.

"Sigh here, please." Sarah signed the line. He placed a small box in her hands, smiled, and returned to his van.

Sarah examined the box. She couldn't figure out who would have sent her anything from a floral shop. Was it all a horrible joke? Oh get off it, Sarah! She tore open the box. A perfect corsage sat inside a clear plastic box. It was exactly as she had imagined her Fairy Princess' to be. Five white orchids (not four, not six, Five) held with purple ribbon, on a shallow bed of baby's breath. "Oh my god…" Sarah had never told anyone about this. No one could have known. She opened the box, and took in the luscious scent of the flowers. She gingerly lifted the corsage, and her shaking fingers pinned it gently onto her nightdress.

Sarah ran to the mirror. Yes. It was real. It was perfect, better even than she had imagined it. It shimmered in the moonlight streaming through the window. She rocked back and forth, teasing the orchids with the light, watching their almost magical glow. The oddest thing happened then: Sarah laughed. The first truly happy laugh that had escaped her lips in too many years. The orchids glowed, but there was no light shining on it now. Sarah's imagination crept out of the tiny box she had shoved it in three years ago, and she imagined herself as the Fairy Princess.

She laughed again, dancing around in front of the mirror. Her simple white nightdress became the elegant gown, low cut, with layer upon layer of perfect lavender silk. It flowed as she moved, and seemed to have a dance all its own. It compelled her to dance, to spin, to twirl until her world fell away. And so she did. She spun. She spun in circles headless of her surroundings and the expensive furniture around her. She laughed again at the idea of knocking the whole house onto its side. But she never did. Even as she moved across the room, nothing came into her path.

Through the blur of colors and shapes circling her, Sarah made out a change of surroundings. She slowly wound down, and looked around at the room. It was hardly the ballroom of her fantasies, but it was the prom of her choice. In the gymnasium decked out in crape paper and disguised with balloons stood all the fears that constituted Sarah's high school life. A few gaped at her sudden appearance, but most hadn't seen her. In that moment of utter panic and confusion all Sarah could do was freeze, and hope no one would truly take any notice of her. That hope was soon quashed as the band began an elegant waltz, and the teenagers evacuated the dance floor. Soon Sarah was standing there alone, and they all saw her.

Oh god, oh god. Why me? Why?!

They watched her.

Why aren't they laughing at me?

He took her hand, and placed her arm around his waist. As the music reverberated through the silent room, they began to dance. He led her gracefully; the dance, though unknown to the poor girl, seemed fluid and natural enough. She wanted only to stare into the face of her Prince Charming. But she couldn't help a glance at the envious girls with their overly modern dresses--no matter what they said to one another, they all wanted what Sarah now had. Sarah smiled contently. This was all she ever wanted.

As the song drew to a close, Prince Charming led their dance to an end. He took her hand and bowed to the amazed mob. They bowed to one another. And he kissed her hand gallantly. More than one girl in the crowd sighed loudly at the scene. Sarah had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing. Her partner led her from the floor as the band began a new, modern song. The couples flooded the floor and began to dance, though the act seemed empty now. They looked on as the two perfect figure, silhouetted by a colored light and protected by an arch of crape paper, stared lovingly into each other's eyes. He kissed her then. And all motion on the dance floor ceased. They all watched openly now, for they were watching their dreams too. The colored light silhouetting the couple turned off, and the figures were gone.

Sarah stopped spinning. She opened her eyes, and felt a little nauseous. But still her laughed.

Wouldn't it have been lovely? Wouldn't it have been perfect?

She danced artfully around the living room furniture with her imaginary partner, and then fell onto the sofa. It had been such a lovely fantasy. Too bad it all seemed so hollow once the magic left her mind. She sighed and looked at the corsage. Still, she had to wonder who had sent it. She pulled her feet up under her and looked down at the scratchy bit of paper stick to her foot. A long strand of green crape paper had wrapped itself around her ankle. Sarah pulled it from her leg and looked at it wonderingly.

In all of her childhood fantasies she had never put a face on Prince Charming. She had used Sleeping Beauty's for the sake of convenience, but her own perfect man never existed. Yet he had been there. He had danced with her as they had danced once before. She leaned back on the sofa and thought about all that had passed that night--both real and imagined, for she really now wondered if there was a difference. And she smiled.

Jareth?


End file.
